Tony Douglas Robertson was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 24 years.
Tony Douglas Robertson was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 24 years.
The news that Tony Douglas Robertson could spend the rest of his life locked up in prison after he raped and killed Blessie Gotingco in Auckland has been welcomed by the mother of a girl he kidnapped and molested in Tauranga in 2005.
"It's fabulous, I reckon, and great he will be in there for ages and not be able to hurt anyone again, any time soon," she said.
In December 2005, Robertson, who was 19, kidnapped and molested the 5-year-old as she walked to school and tried to abduct two other children in Tauranga. He served almost eight years in jail and was released in December 2013.
The mother yesterday told the Bay of Plenty Times she had been following the latest case and "it's been going on in the news everyday and I am sick of seeing it" because "it had bought it back" for her daughter.
Yesterday, Robertson, 28, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 24 years for the murder and preventive detention for the rape of Mrs Gotingco.
In May, he was convicted by a jury in the High Court at Auckland of the crimes against the 56-year-old North Shore mother-of-three, only months after being released from prison.
Tauranga MP Simon Bridges was the Crown prosector at the Maungatapu kidnapping trial in 2006 and sought preventive detention then.
Yesterday, he described Robertson as one of "New Zealand's coldest and worst offenders". He described the 2006 kidnapping case as "unforgettable" and "chilling", and said Robertson was "an incredibly cold, angry and dangerous individual".
Justice Timothy Brewer said yesterday at the sentencing he had no doubt Robertson would reoffend if released from prison.
"Your history makes it very plain you would be very likely to commit another qualifying offence, no matter how long any finite sentence might be."
In court, Mrs Gotingco's husband, Antonio, spoke of the "pain and torturous anguish" the slaying had caused.
"We've been robbed of the very essence of our lives," he said. The "unbelievably violent, cruel, depraved and vicious attack that ultimately ended her life" had similarly impacted Ms Gotingco's children. "Whenever I close my eyes, I'm unable to think of anything else," her eldest son, John, said.
Blessie Gotingco was raped and murdered.
Sensible Sentencing Trust Tauranga co-ordinator Ken Evans said that at last the message was getting through about serious sentencing to protect people. "It appears a change is starting," he said.
"You will never rehabilitate Robertson but we want to protect New Zealanders from these types of people. It's going to keep him out of the area where he can harm people for years, and that is really good, and preventative detention afterwards means he will be continually monitored, so that is great."
Police said they would not be making any comment until the appeal period had finished and the case was no longer the subject of court action.
